Academic Freedom

Freedom is a basic to education in modern democracies. Freedom in education can be categorized in the various aspects such as; Freedom of the child, academic freedom and freedom to read. Mc’Garry and Ward, (1966) puts it: A free society and a free world imply a free educational system and a freedom within the framework of maximum control. In such a closed society they maintained, freedom in education may consist of ability to say or do in consequential things. The legal idea of academic freedom originated in Germany in 1850. The Prussian Constitution declared that “science and its teaching shall be free.” In Germany, academic freedom is known as the right of faculty to teach on any subject, that was freedom of scientific research, and the right of students to attend any lectures, and the absence of class roll calls writes standler (2000). Academic freedom spread to America in the early 20th Century (Post, 2000). Most American universities at that time were proprietary; professors were understood to be the employees of whoever owned the university, whether that was a private or state. Then the professors began to conceive of themselves not as mere employees, but as professional scholars who were answerable to the professional judgment of their peers, they began to create the idea of academic freedom. Still, academic freedom has limits. In the United States, for example, according to the widely recognized "1940 Statement on Academic Freedom and Tenure", teachers should be careful to avoid controversial matter that is unrelated to the subject. When they speak or write in public, they are free to express their opinions without fear from institutional censorship or discipline, but they should show restraint and clearly indicate that they are not speaking for their institution. Academic tenure protects academic freedom by ensuring that teachers can be fired only for causes such as gross professional incompetence or behavior that evokes condemnation from the academic community itself. Proponents of academic freedom believe that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy. They argue that academic communities are repeatedly targeted for repression due to their ability to shape and control the flow of information. When scholars attempt to teach or communicate ideas or facts that are inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities, they may find themselves targeted for public vilification, job loss, imprisonment, or even death. For example, in North Africa, a professor of public health discovered that his country's infant mortality rate was higher than government figures indicated. He lost his job and was imprisoned.

Academic freedom refers to the amount of independent judgment allowed teachers and students as both seek knowledge about the world. Maclever as sited by Harris and Liba (1960) holds that academic freedom refers to the freedom of the scholar with the university to pursue knowledge. Dewey and Lovejoy cited by Haris and Liba (1960) also related academic freedom to university teaching. In the modern society and modern aspects of teaching and learning, academic freedom can no longer be considered a university concern but it cuts across all aspects of the academia.

Right is what a person is entitled to. Or what is legally due to a citizen account of being a member of a state, (International Declaration or Human Rights) established in 1948, as a common standard of achievement for all people and all nations. This document recognizes the basic human rights and freedom, justice and peace in the world having experienced the two world wars.

The commission for Higher Education (CHE) University Act was established in 1985, July and inaugurated on 16th October 1985. It plans programs and finances public universities. It also coordinates admission process, accreditation of university coordination or post secondary training institution...

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

...﻿Academicfreedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts (including those that are inconvenient to external political groups or to authorities) without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.
Academicfreedom is a contested issue and, therefore, has limitations in practice. In the United States, for example, according to the widely recognized "1940 Statement on AcademicFreedom and Tenure",[1] teachers should be careful to avoid controversial matter that is unrelated to the subject. When they speak or write in public, they are free to express their opinions without fear from institutional censorship or discipline, but they should show restraint and clearly indicate that they are not speaking for their institution.[citation needed] Academic tenure protects academicfreedom by ensuring that teachers can be fired only for causes such as gross professional incompetence or behavior that evokes condemnation from the academic community itself.
Academicfreedom, the freedom of teachers and students to teach, study, and pursue knowledge and research without unreasonable...

...﻿
Assaultive Speech and AcademicFreedom: Literature Review
Celso Leonardo Moreno
University of Texas at El Paso
Abstract
People reflect on times in high school, in college, or at a workplace when another student or co-worker said or wrote something just for the apparent purpose of insulting, hurting, frightening, silencing, or banning that someone. If that person has not personally experienced this kind of hateful speech, perhaps hearing it directed at others. Particularly of any hateful speech that was aimed to that person because his gender is being a man or woman, a member of some religious, ethnic, or racial group, gay or lesbian, or somehow outside the norms for dress, interests, body type, or language use.
Assaultive Speech and AcademicFreedom
As time goes by the world evolves with its nature and so does the human race that has considered calling earth its home, unfortunately not many people can adapt or admit that all human race is the same. Human beings have been divided in all sorts of ways. Among the settings of these expressions of intolerance are college and university campuses, where bias incidents have occurred sporadically since the mid 1980's. Outrage, indignation and demands for change are the responses to these incidents understandably, given the lack of racial and social diversity among students, faculty and administrators on most campuses. Many universities,...

...Academic Deference and Discrimination Involving
Tenure Denial in Kunda versus Muhlenberg College
School of Health Management
A. T. Still University
Academic Deference and Discrimination Involving
Tenure Denial in Kunda versus Muhlenberg College
Connie Rae Kunda, an untenured faculty member at Muhlenberg College brought suit against Muhlenberg College for sexual discrimination in her bid for tenure at the college (Sloviter, 2007). The district court awarded reinstatement along with back pay from the date of termination and promotion to assistant professor as well as being awarded the ability to obtain her master’s degree and if successful, be tenured (Sloviter, 2007). Muhlenberg College appealed the decision by the district court based on the principle of academic deference where the court should defer to the expertise of the academic institution regarding employment decisions of its faculty (Sloviter, 2007) (Kaplin &amp; Lee), 2007).
A question does arise as to why the appellate court gave conditional tenure to Ms. Kunda instead of deferring to the institution since this obviously deals with faculty promotion and tenure issues. The court had determined that the dean and the president of the college had discriminated against Ms. Kunda in their refusal to award her tenure (Sloviter, 2007). She had received disparate treatment relative to male faculty up for tenure in that she was not counseled...

...The Ethics of AcademicFreedom
University of La Verne
EcBu 543
Ethics in Organizations And Society
Summer II
2005
Professor: Rita Thakur
The Ethics of AcademicFreedom
"Don't take too seriously the advice of people who supposedly know better than you do. As long as you are finding out things we didn't know before, you are doing something right."
~Doreen Kimura
The quest for knowledge can be a wonderful thing. It can help to empower those that need confidence, and can also assist in daily tasks. It can also provide an individual the means to improve his or her lifestyle. But did you know that sometimes a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing? Truly dangerous if it is not respected and handled with care. And nowhere is that most apparent, than on the campuses and in the classrooms of this nations institutions of higher education.
Even on the most tolerant of campuses, there exist individuals who are opinionated, biased, and judgmental of others' perspectives. That is to be expected. But what happens when the professors and educators (or those who have put themselves in the role as educator) have taken their freedoms for granted and base everything that they say has merit given his or her First Amendment right?
AcademicFreedomAcademicFreedom exists. ."in order that society will have the benefit of honest...

...self. Everyday around the United States, there are either multiple articles being published about the restrictions imposed on freedom of speech, or public speeches given about people not being allowed to express their beliefs toward such everyday subjects like religion and war. In a way, it is ironic to note that even though they have all been allowed to publish these articles and speak about these controversial subjects, they still complain about not having freedom of speech. What they don’t realize is that there are places with much stricter policies toward freedom of expression that is even hard to imagine for an American. I have the honor of being from one of those places: The Islamic Republic of Iran.
Before drawing an analogy between the current state of freedom of speech in US and Iran, I believe it's necessary to examine the core concept of this freedom in greater detail. The "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" states that "The free communication of ideas and opinions is one of the most precious of the rights of man. Every citizen may, accordingly, speak, write, and print with freedom, but shall be responsible for such abuses of this freedom as shall be defined by law." Although this text seems in itself to be a rather comprehensive definition, and every thinker agrees that all mankind freedoms must also have a limitation so that the...

...the death your right to say it.”
* Voltaire (18th Century French Philosopher)
A fundamental aspect of humanity is the capability of complex communication and logic, something which has deemed us far superior to creatures much stronger and faster than our relatively feeble bodies. However, mankind often falls prey to bigotry, believing in a single opinion and refusing to listen to any other, a flaw which has brought forth much devastation to society. The implementation of democracy allowed the gradual evolution of the freedom of expression, ensuring the right for people to speak their thoughts without fear of oppression or punishment. Yet with every right, there comes a responsibility; the freedom of speech is not absolute and shouldn’t be, for every word has power behind it and should be treated with such value. Allowing absolute freedom of speech would result in chaos, prohibiting punishment for threats, disturbances or false information. Freedom of expression should be defined as a basic human right, yet not an absolute one.
The earliest example of the oppression of opinion occurred in the first democracy of the world, Athens. The renowned philosopher Socrates was sentenced to death by the democratic government of Athens, for his views that defied the Athenian gods and supposedly corrupted the youth. The Athenians had excessive pride, known to them as hubris, and were not ready to have their core...

...﻿IMPORTANCE OF “FREEDOM OF THE PRESS MUST BE EXERCISED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT AS PROVIDED BY THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION”
CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEE
Teodoro, et al on the book Freedom Of Expression And The Media In The Philippines Chapter I: History of Freedom of the Press demonstrated how the commitment to free speech and expression, the right to information and press freedom, with which the leaders of both the 19th century Philippine Reform Movement and the 1896 Revolution were familiar, was continued in the Malolos Constitution of the First Philippine Republic, this was nearly 115 years ago. These provisions did not only survived, but were expanded, in the country's subsequent Constitutions. The freedom of speech and expression, the right to information and press freedom were guaranteed in the Philippine Constitution as follows:
The Malolos constitution guaranteed that no Filipino would be deprived of “the right to freely express his ideas or opinions, orally or in writing, through the use of press and similar means”.
The guarantee of the 1987 Constitution in Section 4, Article 3 (Bill of Rights) which says that “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”
Section 7 also states that “the right of the people to information on...

...Throughout history men have fought for freedom of expression. Laws have been passed, wars have been fought, and lives have been lost over the right to express an idea publicly. Why should such a seemingly natural right have fomented controversy, even to the point of bloodshed? Why have societies, both past and present, found it necessary to restrict or even to prohibit the exercise of this right? Sometimes freedom of speech has been viewed as a privilege to be enjoyed. At other times it has been considered a problem to be dealt with by governments or religions. Freedom of speech today is understood as a multi-faceted right that includes not only the right to express, or disseminate, information and ideas, but three further distinct aspects: the right to seek information and ideas; the right to receive information and ideas; and the right to impart information and ideas (Schumpeter, 2008, pg. 128). Freedom of expression is so hotly defended in western culture by virtue of its implications in government, democracy and religion.
Past leaders of government, like Stalin and Hitler for example, were dictators in favor of freedom of speech for views they liked only. Noam Chomsky states that: "If you believe in freedom of speech, you believe in freedom of speech for views you don't like” (Maddox, 1996, pg.78). Western culture understands the importance of freedom and...